


Throw Hands

by candleinthew1nD



Category: British Singers RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Best Friends, Bromance, Drunken Shenanigans, Emergency - Freeform, Gen, Holidays, Hospitals, Injury, Irish, M/M, Niall Horan & Liam Payne Friendship, Poor Niall, Protective Liam, St. Patrick's Day, barfight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 15:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30007128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candleinthew1nD/pseuds/candleinthew1nD
Summary: Liam and Niall spend St. Patrick's Day in the ER.
Relationships: Niall Horan/Liam Payne
Kudos: 11





	Throw Hands

**Author's Note:**

> _  
>  **This is a work of fanfiction. The characters herein are based on real people, but the words and events are completely made up. They are not intended to be mistaken for fact, and no libel is intended.**   
>  _

"Hello? Earth to Payno, can ya hear me?"

"Hmm?" Liam frowns and looks up from his phone. "Are you alright? Do you want me to call the nurse?"

Niall scoffs and rolls his eyes. "No, Jesus Christ! I didn't even want to come here in the first place. You overreacted Liam, big time." His efforts to appear tough and unbothered fail when Niall's face scrunches up and his lips part in a groan.

Liam stands up. He walks over to stand beside the bed, crosses his arms over his chest and leans back against the white cinderblock wall.

"Did I now? All the urgent care clinics are closed, but yeah, I suppose we could have booked a room at some seedy hotel. I could've bought a first aid kit from a corner store and stitched you up myself."

Niall laughs dizzily and slings his arm over his face. "Honestly, mate, that would've been preferable. And now I can't stop imagining you in a set of scrubs with gloves, all green and white and orange, like. How much've I had to drink?"

"Too damn much," Liam says, taking hold of Niall's arm to gently pull it away from his face. His skin is sweaty and pale, his bright blue eyes bloodshot, glazed with pain and rimmed by dark circles. "But then, you always do."

"Fuck off." Niall yanks his arm out of of Liam's hold. "Ow..." he moans as the movement jars his injured side. "Oh, for the love of - "

"Niall, be still! You have three broken ribs, a concussion, a terrible laceration on your other arm, and a ruptured spleen. All that, and you think you don't need to be here. For fuck's sake, Niall..."

Liam runs his hand through is hair and clenches his jaw. "If I hadn't stepped in when I did, the bloody bastard could have done a lot more damage. He could have killed you, Niall. That may sound melodramatic, but really. I don't know what I'd do without you. I don't want to even begin to try to imagine the world without you in it. I love you."

"Aww. I love you too, mate. Um, but do me a favor, yeah? Let go of my hand before you crush my bones to powder."

"Oops. Sorry." Liam doesn't know at what point he grabbed hold of Niall's hand, or if at some point Niall had taken his in an effort to comfort him. He takes the small black steel folding chair from the corner and drags it to the head of the bed. "What were you going to ask me? When you were trying to get my attention."

Niall laughs and clutches his bandaged right side. "I was just gonna ask you what happened, but you've basically told me. How long have we been here, Liam?"

Liam glances up at the clock on the wall. "It's nearly 4:00, so about three and a half hours. I had to keep pinching and slapping your cheek to make you stay awake. It's a miracle you made it all the way here without passing out."

"I wonder what the other guy looks like?" Niall's breath hitches. He takes Liam's hand in his and turns it around to examine his knuckles, scraped and bruised and bloodied, with a few covered by tiny circular fabric bandages. "Poor Payno. My knight in shining armor." He brushes his lips across the back of Liam's hand.

"Oh, please." Liam snorts. With his free hand, he scrapes his knuckles through Niall's hair, frowning when he winces at the pain. "Ah, sorry. You're really in a shitty state, mate. I almost forgot about your head."

"Mm, yeah. Sure I may smile and wink at ya, like the rough, lovable rogue that I am, but I can't lie to ya and say it doesn't hurt."

_He suddenly sees an image of Niall, red-faced and furious, reduced to a wide-eyed, frightened child as the punk had grabbed a handful of his thick blond hair - the dark brown roots just starting to show - and slammed his head down against the floor, several times, leaving smudges of Niall's blood on the dark wood panel. Then, somehow still conscious, Niall had bleated, a hopeless, helpless sound, and Liam had howled and lunged across the room toward Niall's attacker._

"Liam? What's wrong, man? You look as if you've seen a ghost, like."

Liam opens his mouth, but before he can speak, there's a knock at the door. The smiling, bubbly young CNA is a teenager, all of 18 or 19. "Hi, Mr. Horan. Just here to check in on you. How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright, love. Fine and dandy. Now, when do I get to go home?"

The young woman - her nametag says **BRITNEY** in bold black block print - frowns and shrugs. "I don't know anything about that. I can page the nurse for you, if you'd like."

Niall groans in exaggeration and drags a hand down his face. "Ugh, fine. Call old Nurse Ratched for me. I'd wager it's a miserable old cow who takes delight in makin' her patients suffer. Go on, then."

Britney smiles nervously. "Okay." The moment the door closes behind her, Liam turns to Niall with an ugly scowl. "What the hell, Niall? Do you really think it's a good idea to antagonize the person who has the ultimate say in whether or not you get to leave this place? Although, I can go ahead and tell you, you aren't going anywhere for a while. They'll want to keep you overnight at least, to make sure your symptoms don't get any worse."

"Oh, feck off! You mean to tell me I have to spend the most important holiday of the year in hospital? Oh well, I guess I've only got myself to blame, gettin' all fluthered and whatnot. How many pints deep was I?"

"Five, by my last count. It's a wonder you were still standing when that little arsehole came at you."

"Yeah, and what was all that about? Did I say something I shouldn't've?"

"Erm, I can't remember exactly, but you insulted the boy's masculinity in some way. He was a fraternity boy from UCLA. About 20 or so, I think. Not that any of that matters. Even he had to have known that someone would intervene. You're _Niall Horan_ , after all."

"I guess so, even though I've a feeling my glory days are behind me. Being 'the cute one' in the band sure had its perks, but maybe I should take this as some sort of sign. Maybe Our Father in Heaven wants me to realize it's about time for me to finally grow up."

"Oh, come off it. I know it sucks being here, but I promise you we'll get through this and we'll have a good laugh about it later." Liam reaches down to brush Niall's hair back off of his forehead. "For what it's worth, I didn't hurt the kid too bad. Just gave him a few whacks and he backed off and ran away with his tail between his legs, so to speak."

" 'A few whacks,' huh? Payno, your knuckles are black and blue! It's a wonder you didn't break the boyo's nose, or give him a concussion. Or maybe ya did, who knows? I guess we won't find out, but I kind of hope you did. It'd be the least he deserves. Oh, look at that, the nurse is coming in."

Contrary to Niall's joke about 'Nurse Ratched,' the nurse is a pretty, friendly brunette in her early thirties, just a few years older than them. "Hello Mr. Horan, my name's Amy. Britney said you have some questions for me?" She turns to smile quizzically at Liam.

"Oh, this is Liam, my significant other. Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of him. He should be privy to any and all information regarding my health."

"Alright." Amy pushes her glasses up the end of her nose and makes a note on the clipboard she is holding. "Well then, since it's only been a couple of hours since you came in, the doctor recommends that we keep you for observation until Friday at the latest. We've done a CT scan, and somehow you don't have any bleeding in your brain. What you do have are a concussion, three fractured ribs, several contusions and hematomas on your side, a busted spleen, and a nasty laceration on your left forearm that took 23 stitches to close."

She peers down at Niall over the edge of her glasses as they slide back down her nose. "Your Blood Alcohol Concentration when you were brought in was .12. Far be it from me to advise anyone on how to live their life, but please be careful, Mr. Horan. You're lucky this one had your back, or things could have turned out very differently. Now, then..."

Amy blushes and holds the clipboard out toward Niall. "I'm sorry to be unprofessional, but can I please have your autograph? It's for my sister Stacy."

"Sure thing." Niall smiles good-naturedly and signs the bottom of the form in his neat childish scrawl, the <i>N</i> almost looking like a heart. He adds an _x_ beside his name and hands the clipboard back to her. "Sorry to sully official paperwork and all that. I guess you'll have to make a copy and cut off the bottom part of the page."

"It's fine, of course. I can do that, and I'll come up with some excuse for it in the file. You were bored, etc. I'll think of something. Now, before I go, how would you rate your pain on a scale of 1-10?"

"About a 4 right now. Whatever painkillers you have me on are doing the job. And it helps having a pretty girl around."

Amy blushes again, makes a note, and quickly excuses herself. When she leaves, Liam grins and raises an eyebrow. "How do you like that? So much for professionalism. As soon as she took care of what she had to, she asked for your autograph. She didn't even seem to realize who I am."

"Don't be jealous, Payno. She got my signature in Sharpie, to be sure, but you're my best mate. My 'significant other.' You're the pretty girl around who's making me feel better."

"Is that right?" Liam smiles and gently pinches Niall's cheek between his thumb and pointer finger. "You think I'm pretty...stop it, Niall, you're going to make me blush."

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to wait until the proper holiday to publish this one, but I figured what the heck. Happy St. Patrick's Day all the same, and when the day arrives, please be sure to drink responsibly. 🍺🍀


End file.
